Glow

The sun slowly slipped away into the night, but before doing so it shone red, orange and gold into the skies. The sunset blended with the clouds, creating more focuses for colour and light to absorb into and reflect rays of light about in the sky. Radiant spectacles of light were broadcasted through the atmosphere for the remaining minutes before the sun disappeared until morning. Such displays were normal during the Castings.

Just seconds after the sun was swept away did night finally take over. The clanking and light jingling of soul chains as they descended to reach their hosts' bodily forms, once again, for a round of the Castings. Their ghostly silver and white faded in and out of view while they fasten themselves to a human of their choice. The chains thereafter pulsated with life and energy, and that is when the games begin.

The Castings are a secret event that takes place at night, primarily lasting only an hour. Only those who were initiated know of it's existence, and those picked were selected by the soul chains themselves to participate. The soul chains were necessary to participate in the Castings. They made all of the participants invisible to all those that were not, as well as granting them unique abilities and weapons based on their physique to use during the Castings. If the soul chain is severed from the body of an initiate, they lose and are eliminated from the real world.

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The soul chain seeking a potential initiate was very indecisive. It knew that there were many potential humans that would work, but it wanted to find someone who would make their involvement in the Castings much more enjoyable this time. It wasn't exactly about winning, but rather having a host whom would be different than the rest. It finally settled on an adequate human.

A short female with medium length strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and an inchoate mind would be the chain's toy this round. The chain glowed brighter with excitement and jingled with anticipation.

When the soul chain connected to the girl, she immediately awoke from her slumber and began to change for the start of the Castings. Her body was torn from her bed to hover in the air while her eyes developed red flecks within, her hair grew thicker and became aware of it's surroundings. Her face hardened as she was taught spells and knowledge of how to use her newly granted weapon, a blood crossbow. New clothes materialized on her body, a black trench coat hid a black spaghetti strap top and long black pants. When she was released by the grip of the changes, she dropped to the ground and landed gracefully on her feet.

Girl, what is your name? The chain whispered into her mind, as they would now share their first layer of thoughts with the other.

I am Celia. What is this? Celia calmly responded, looking around. She could feel the soul chain coming out of the back of her neck, but could not physically touch it. When she ran her hands through the point that is connected to her body, she only felt highly concentrated waves of despair and was forced to remove her hand from it's location. I mean, what is happening?

Ah, these are the Castings. The chain responded happily. I would love to be able to tell you more, but I believe that another initiate has spotted you and is on their way here. Best be on your way so we can fight them on fair ground. Celia took its advice.

She exited her home in a hurry, running down the street quickly with her new-found agility. She could see a figure jumping on the rooftops of higher buildings, though not as quickly as she. Celia ran on. Keep moving. They are melee based, so you want to get to higher ground and take advantage of the range of your crossbow. Celia looked up, seeing somewhere that she could use to get up higher. She jumped up, and after a few more she managed to get onto the rooftop, though she was still lower down than her pursuer.